Capital Measures Research Articles

Conceptualising a human capital measurement and reporting framework

Purpose: This paper proposes a context-based framework for measuring and disclosing human capital in the financial statements of the Zimbabwean mining companies. The study was prompted by the lack of universal standardised framework that can be adopted by companies for use and existing of varied models with conflicting measurement metrics. The developed model is meant to bring harmony within the industry and across other sectors, particularly in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. Methodology: This paper adopted an integrative literature review approach also known as the critical review approach in the development of the human capital measurement and disclosure framework. Corporate annual reports, existing related literature, and various human capital models were critically and systematically reviewed to conceptualise different views from various authors concerning human capital measurement and disclosure framework. A thematic analysis approach was adopted to analyse the qualitative findings. The analysis was conducted until a point of saturation was reached. Findings: The paper proposed a context-based human capital measurement and disclosure framework with six key primary factors. Furthermore, the paper proposed the measurement criteria and the disclosure requirements of the six primary factors established. The framework also acts as a starting point for human capital reporting since there is a lack of an established and generally accepted reporting framework in Zimbabwe. The benefit of this framework is that it is flexible, and it allows companies to develop human capital reporting guidelines based on key features specific to an individual company's human capital and can be applied to other similar contexts in the SADC region. This paper recommends the adoption of the human capital measurement and disclosure framework as to increase companies’ value, financial performance as well as economic growth at large. Originality/Value: The proposed framework is envisaged to reduce information asymmetry and improve corporate governance practices for both practice and policy formulation.

What Can Students Gain from China's Higher Education?

China's higher education system has undergone a rapid expansion over the last two decades. By drawing on hand‐collected data, we explore students' experiences in college and in the labor market post‐graduation in the wake of this expansion. According to our data, the largest employer of college graduates in the labor market was the state sector, followed by the domestic private sector. To explain the returns to college education in China, we explore three mechanisms: human capital, social networks, and signaling. We find that human capital measures, apart from a student's college English test scores, cannot explain the college wage premium, whereas both social networks (for example, membership of the Communist Party) and signaling matter significantly. This seems to indicate that in China, connections are crucial for student success in the labor market, whereas the higher education system itself is more a system for selecting talented individuals than it is for educating them. Finally, students allocate their time accordingly, for example, by spending more time studying English in college than any other subject.

Tongue Ties or Fragments Transformed: Making Sense of Similarities and Differences between the Five Largest English-Speaking Jewish Communities

The subjects of Jewish identity and Jewish communal vitality, and how they may be conceptualized and measured, are the topics of lively debate among scholars of contemporary Jewry (DellaPergola 2015, 2020; Kosmin 2022; Pew Research Center 2021; Phillips 2022). Complicating matters, there appears to be a disconnect between the broadly accepted claim that comparative analysis yields richer understanding of Jewish communities (Cooperman 2016; Weinfeld 2020) and the reality that the preponderance of that research focuses on discrete communities. This paper examines the five largest English-speaking Jewish communities in the diaspora: the United States of America (US) (population 6,000,000–7,600,000), Canada (population 393,500), the United Kingdom (UK) (population 292,000), Australia (population 118,000), and South Africa (population 52,000) (DellaPergola 2022). A comparison of the five communities’ levels of Jewish engagement, and the identification of factors shaping these differences, are the main objectives of this paper. The paper first outlines conceptual and methodological issues involved in the study of contemporary Jewry; hierarchical linear modeling is proposed as the suitable statistical approach for this analysis, and ethnocultural and religious capital are promoted as suitable measures for studying Jewish engagement. Secondly, a contextualizing historical and sociodemographic overview of the five communities is presented, highlighting attributes which the communities have in common, and those which differentiate them. Statistical methods are then utilized to develop measures of Jewish capital, and to identify explanatory factors shaping the differences between these five communities in these measures of Jewish capital. To further the research agenda of communal and transnational research, this paper concludes by identifying questions that are unique to the individual communities studied, with a brief exploration of subjects that Jewish communities often neglect to examine and are encouraged to consider. This paper demonstrates the merits of comparative analysis and highlights practical and conceptual implications for future Jewish communal research.

Social Disparities and Social Distancing During the Covid Pandemic.

According to Putnam (2000) and Bourdieu (1986), social disparities may result in the formation of narrow social bonds that exacerbate existing social cleavages and impede collective action. Motivated by this insight, we examine the relationship between social disparities and social distancing during the pre-vaccine Covid pandemic in the US. Using a panel of weekly, county-level observations, we find that income, educational and racial disparities are associated with a statistically significant decrease in the social distancing. This result is robust to controls for a wide variety of socioeconomic variables, the Covid infection rate, and a measure of social capital.

Can Firms Act Morally?

Abstract The firm is a critical actor in the formation of a new moral political economy, but firm structure, culture, and profits can be an obstacle to change. The case of the American technology industry demonstrates the limits of relying on firms to change from within. The widespread practice of awarding stock ties white-collar compensation to corporate performance and curtails employee activism. The high-tech venture capital model measures success using rapid return on investment and acquisition of market share. Corporate governance practices and dual-class shares give founder-CEOs outsized control and entrench existing business models, even when they have damaging downstream consequences. The trajectory of these purportedly purpose-driven companies indicates that, as in the past, regulation may be the most effective path to meaningful corporate reform.

Sobriety, social capital, and village network structures

External shocks or stimuli can have significant effects on community network structures, which in turn can affect relationship ties and social capital. To this point, however, few studies analyze impacts of self-help programs, such as those targeting substance abuse, on network structures or measures of social capital. This study analyzes the effects of a randomized control trial (RCT) in western Kenya that included an intervention aimed at decreasing alcohol abuse using group therapies and spousal level counseling. Using dyadic network data collected from alcohol-using households, the analysis finds that two nearby same-gender peers randomly assigned to the treatment group are 9 percentage points [pp] more likely to have an agricultural information link with their peer and 8 pp more likely to work with their peer compared to two individuals in the control group. Additional individual-level results find that assignment to the treatment significantly increases an individual’s network centrality as measured by degree, closeness, and betweenness. I explore potential mechanisms and find evidence suggesting network effects at the intensive and extensive margin and the development of support linkages all likely contributed to these results. This study shows that programs utilizing peer effects can not only have positive impacts on alcohol consumption, but also positive spillover effects on relationship ties and on a treated individual’s network centrality. The results thus suggest significant positive impacts of the program on social capital, and points to the indirect benefits of substance abuse programs (and self-help programs in general) on communities.

The COVID-19 curtain: Can past communist regimes explain the vaccination divide in Europe?

As of December 2021, all former Communist countries from Central and Eastern Europe were still lagging behind in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates in Europe. Can institutional legacy explain, at least in part, this heterogeneity in vaccination decisions across Europe? To study this question we exploit novel data from the second wave of the SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) COVID-19 Survey fielded in Summer (2021) that covers older individuals in 27 European countries. First, we document lower COVID-19 vaccine take-up amongst those who were born under Communism in Europe. Next, we turn to reunified Germany to get closer to a causal effect of having lived behind the Iron Curtain. We find that exposure to the Communist regime in East Germany decreased one's probability to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by 8 percentage points and increased that of refusing the vaccine by 4 percentage points. Both effects are large and statistically significant, and they hold when controlling for individual socio-economic and demographic characteristics. We explore several possible mechanisms. The East-West Germany gap does not seem to be explained by differences in the impact of the first wave of the pandemic or in general exposure to vaccines. We find that East Germans have lower social capital than West Germans and that social capital correlates negatively with Covid-10 vaccine uptake, but only a small fraction of the East-West Germany Covid-19 vaccination gap can be explained by our measures of social capital.

Intellectual Capital Measurement and Evaluation Models Based on Assets Return as Non-Accounting Value

Intellectual Capital Measurement and Evaluation Models Based on Assets Return as Non-Accounting Value

Foreign Trade, Human Capital and Economic Growth in India under the Liberalised Trade Regime

This study revisits trade–growth dynamics in India augmenting the role of human capital for the liberalised trade regime. The autoregressive distributed lag-bounds testing approach finds cointegrating relation of income with the different combinations of export, import, exchange rate, trade openness, education and health dimension of human capital. The long-run and short-run dynamics of such relations confirm that both export and import enhance income growth that testifies export-led and import-led growth premises. Trade openness proves detrimental to growth, while human capital spurs growth. However, the growth gains from the human capital vary across alternative measures of human capital. A battery of diagnostic tests corroborates these inferences robustly. Policy manifestation for trade promotion might be beneficial for higher economic growth in India. JEL Codes: F43, F13, F14, O24

The Moderating Effect of Age and Debt on the Relationship Between Intellectual Capital and Firm Performance: A Developing Country Perspective

ABSTRACT Intellectual capital is a significant determinant of firm performance heterogeneity. However, research into the direct relationship between this knowledge base asset and a firm’s performance has produced contradictory results. This paper uses contingency theory to argue that a firm’s age and debt are moderators in this relationship. The study sought to investigate the moderating effects of age and debt on the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance measures from the perspective of a developing country. The study used data from the financial statements of companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange between 2014 and 2018. According to the regression results, age and debt are significant moderators of this relationship. The findings show that older companies outperform younger companies in using intellectual capital as a performance driver. Companies with higher financial capabilities outperform companies with fewer capabilities. The study concluded with a discussion of the study’s implications, contribution, and future research directions.

It pays to have guanxi: How social capital affects household income in China

AbstractThe association between social capital and household income has received inadequate attention over the past decade. We examine the role of social capital in household income using three waves of household surveys from 2011 to 2015 in China. Using “local big surname or not” as the instrumental variable, we find that gift expenditure as a proxy for social capital is positively associated with total household income. In addition, social capital mainly affects income sources through improved financial sophistication, higher job position levels, closer government connections, and greater accessibility to operating loans. The results are robust to alternative social capital measures. The findings highlight the importance of social capital in household economic welfare in China.

The Influence of Intellectual Capital on the Performance of Higher Education Institutions: The Mediation Role of Performance Measurement Systems

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have a key role in developing a country by improving the quality of human resources. Thus, this study aims to empirically examine the determinants of HEI performance, i.e., intellectual capital and performance measurement systems. This study also investigates the mediating effect of the performance measurement system itself. This quantitative study used a questionnaire survey distributed to private higher education institutions (PHEIs) located in several provinces on Java Island, Indonesia. This study employed a purposive sampling technique with respondents' criteria of structural officials in the financial sector at private higher education institutions (PHEIs) on Java Island. The questionnaire responses obtained were 186 samples, and Partial Least Square was utilized to test the hypothesis. The results exhibited that the performance measurement systems mediated the relationship between intellectual capital and HEI performance. Further, this research contributes theoretically and practically, especially in implementing intellectual capital mobilized in the performance measurement system to improve the performance of HEIs.

The role of mindfulness, meditation, and peer support in recovery capital among Recovery Dharma members

IntroductionRecovery Dharma (RD) is a Buddhist-based peer support program for the treatment of addiction that incorporates mindfulness and meditation into meetings, program literature, and the recovery process, creating the opportunity to study these variables in a peer-support program context. Mindfulness and meditation are beneficial for people in recovery, yet we know little about their relationship to recovery capital, a positive indicator of recovery outcomes. We explored mindfulness and meditation (average length of sessions and average frequency per week) as predictors of recovery capital and examined perceived support in relation to recovery capital. MethodsThe study recruited participants (N = 209) through the RD website, newsletter and social media pages for an online survey that included measures of recovery capital, mindfulness, perceived support, and questions about meditation practices (e.g., frequency, duration). Participants' mean age was 46.68 years (SD = 12.21), with 45 % female (5.7 % non-binary), and 26.8 % from the LGBTQ2S+ community. The mean time in recovery was 7.45 years (SD = 10.37). The study fitted univariate and multivariate linear regression models to determine significant predictors of recovery capital. ResultsAs anticipated, multivariate linear regressions indicated that mindfulness (β = 0.31, p < .001), meditation frequency (β = 0.26, p < .001), and perceived support from RD (β = 0.50, p < .001) were all significant predictors of recovery capital when controlling for age and spirituality. However, longer time in recovery and the average duration of meditation sessions did not predict recovery capital as anticipated. ConclusionsResults indicate the importance of a regular meditation practice for recovery capital rather than engaging in prolonged sessions infrequently. The results also support previous findings, which point to the influence of mindfulness and meditation on positive outcomes for people in recovery. Further, peer support is associated with higher recovery capital in RD members. This study is the first examination of the relationship between mindfulness, meditation, peer support, and recovery capital in recovering people. The findings lay the groundwork for the continued exploration of these variables as they relate to positive outcomes both within the RD program and in other recovery pathways.

The Influence of Intellectual Capital on the Performance of UMKM Tempe Craftsmen in Sukabumi City

This study aims to examine the effect of intellectual capital on the performance of UMKM tempe craftsmen in Sukabumi City. The intellectual capital measurement uses four sub-variables, namely social capital, customer capital, human capital, and technology capital, while the performance of MSMEs is measured using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The population in this study was all Tempe craftsmen SMEs who are members of the Tempe Producers Association in Sukabumi City. We used a sampling technique called saturated sampling. The data analysis technique used in this study was multiple linear regression using SPSS as a data processing tool. The findings of this study indicate that social capital and technological capital have no significant effect on the performance of SMEs. Customer capital and human capital have a significant positive effect on MSME performance. While social capital, customer capital, human capital, and technology capital all impact the performance of UMKM tempe craftsmen in Sukabumi City.

Leisure activity variety seeking as an instrumental outcome of social capital

Transportation research has paid deeper attention to exploring factors affecting leisure activities and their related travel. Motivated by the influence of social capital on leisure activity behavior, this paper proposes a theory that leisure activity variety is an instrumental outcome and thus affected by instrumental social capital more than expressive social capital. The theory underlines two hypotheses that (1) social capital is an integral determinant of leisure activity participation, and (2) having access to greater instrumental support promotes greater leisure activity variety – an instrumental outcome. This theory was tested using a comprehensive list of different unique leisure activities collected from 1,275 survey respondents. To the authors’ knowledge, this refined and specially designed survey is the first in the transportation literature to use both a position generator and resource generator to measure social capital. Results from negative binomial regression models demonstrated that instrumental support had the largest influence on predicting activity variety outcome. The robustness of six instrumental support measures was assessed based on the variability of parameter estimates and model fit. Sensitivity testing affirmed the consideration that social capital correlates with an individual’s activity participation. This study’s findings suggest that social capital can reduce estimation bias and unobserved heterogeneity across various socioeconomic attributes. As social capital has distinct impacts even among homogeneous demographic groups, transportation modelers can derive insights from social capital measures to build more socially and behaviorally realistic models.

Global Financial Crisis and Capital Flows Management in Brazil: Towards a Polanyian Approach

Have Brazil’s capital flows management measures (CFMs) changed after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)? This article explains Brazil’s CFMs after the GFC as part of a (failed) attempt to gradually move away from embedded neoliberalism. It proposes a Polanyian approach that captures both the change (emphasized by the policy space approach) and the continuity (underscored by the scalar-relational and financialization approaches) underlying Brazil’s CFMs after the GFC. It argues that the change stems from the conflict between different political economy coalitions, while the continuity is rooted in the shared acceptance of major objectives of neoliberalism—capital mobility and financial integration.

Banking against Global Economic Crisis: Comparison of Covid-19 Pandemic and 2008 Recession

In the last twenty years, there has been two major global economic crises in Indonesia with very different origin, the 2008 global financial crisis was induced by failure of international banks while the 2020 global pandemic crisis was induced by economic slowdown due to worldwide infectious disease. Previous researches implied that the financial crisis had more tendency to deplete capital without slowing down credit distribution thus facing bigger risk of illiquidity while it had the opposite effect on the pandemic crisis where banks withhold their capital too much and distributed too little leading to less profitability. We found that the persistence of changes of CAR, LDR, NPL, and ROA as capital, liquidity, and profitability measures during both crises don’t differ significantly. Keywords: Banking, pandemic, economic crisis.

Expansion of pipeless drainage functions for draining poorly permeable soils

Due to climate change, in the next 30-50 years, an increase in precipitation during the growing season is predicted in the Non-Chernozem zone of Russia. However, even now, traditional methods of draining poorly permeable soils in a number of cases have proved to be ineffective due to the insufficiency of operational and capital measures to accelerate the removal of surface water and the weak hydraulic connection between the arable layer and drains. The experience of operation of drainage systems in the Nonchernozem zone of Russia has shown that at large distances between channels, the removal of surface runoff is difficult. A rational solution is to reduce the distances between the conductive channels. In this case, instead of open collectors, we propose to use cavityless collectors for drainage, which do not interfere with the movement of heavy agricultural machinery. A complete analysis of the functioning of cavityless collectors has been carried out. In the part of hydrology, accounting for the increase in precipitation is discussed and a method is given for calculating the maximum average daily module of drainage flow for the early spring and summer-autumn periods. A geotechnical calculation of the settlement during the passage of a heavy general-purpose tractor of the 5th traction class K-744R1 (Kirovets) was performed. It is shown that under the design conditions, the settlements will be about 1 cm. An example of a hydraulic calculation of the reservoir with the calculation of the initial and maximum depth of the filtration flow in it is given. Hydraulic calculation is carried out according to a proven method, the theoretical foundations of which were developed by the authors in previously published articles. An important feature is that all possible filtration modes are taken into account in the hydraulic calculation: laminar, transitional and turbulent.

Green intellectual capital measurement in the hotel industry: The developing country study

The going green agenda or environmental protection has gained the attention of the industries. The tourism sector nowadays is not just a conservative industry that provides tourism activities but is now associated with sustainable practices (Bombiak, 2021). Hotels are very severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Green intellectual capital (GIC) combines intellectual capital (IC), environmental knowledge, and awareness. IC is crucial in a firm and efficiently utilizing it will help enhance any organization’s performance. There is limited GIC measurement as not many researchers have investigated GIC. This study aims to produce a GIC model for hotels to practice in their daily operation to enhance their performance. The current study employs a case study approach where five interviews were conducted with different personnel in Malaysia’s tourism and hotel sector. The study identified eighteen indicators for the GIC model. The GIC model aids the firm in complying with environmental regulations, creating value for the firm, and meeting customers’ requirements on environmental issues

IMPACT OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE ON BANK PERFORMANCE: A STUDY ON JANATA BANK LIMITED OF BANGLADESH

This study aims to examine the impact of capital structure on the bank performance of Janata Bank Limited (JBL) from 2011 to 2021. Furthermore, the goal of this study is to determine the connection between debt combinations and financial performance. For analysis, secondary data are mainly used from the last 11 years (2011-2021) annual reports of Janata Bank Limited. In this study capital structure measures (long-term debt on equity, long-term debt on the asset, total debt on equity, total debt on the asset, short-term debt on equity, short-term debt asset) are selected as the independent variables, and performance measures (return on asset, return on equity, return on investment) were considered as the dependent variables. As statistical tools, regression and correlation analysis have been used in this study. The study's findings demonstrated a strong correlation between JBL's capital structure and financial performance.